There are numerous business operations in which it is necessary to determine, for billing purposes, the charges for long distance telephone calls at the time they are placed. This is normally accomplished by placing the call through an operator requesting a call back with time and charges.
The use of operator assistance in the placement of long distance calls not only results in telephone charges substantially in excess of direct dial charges but, also, involves a time loss on the part of both the operator and calling party. From the standpoint of time loss it is apparent that the placement of two calls is required in the case of a single long distance call when it is necessary to know the charges; e.g. a first call to the operator and a subsequent call from the operator to report charges.
Although the direct dial rates between certain large cities have been publicly disseminated along with mileage rate breakdowns to, theoretically, permit the calling party to determine the charges for a direct dial call, as a practical matter this information is not widely employed for that purpose. This, presumably, for the reasons that time loss on the part of the calling party is greater than using operator assistance and accurate, resettable timing devices are not part of the usual office inventory.
The purpose of the invention is to enable a calling party to directly read the charges for a direct dial call to any point in the continental United States immediately upon completion of the call and without operator assistance.